


To Professor Thawne!

by squireofgeekdom



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene, Post-Season/Series 01, University
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-29 01:37:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6353704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squireofgeekdom/pseuds/squireofgeekdom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grad School is never easy, but your thesis advisor maybe-probably being a supervillain and then disappearing off the face of the Earth certainly doesn't make it easier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Professor Thawne!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rimahadley](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rimahadley/gifts), [Kamemor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kamemor/gifts).



> This was spawned from a conversation with rimahadley and kamemor that spiraled in the best way.

“To Eobard Thawne! The best professor who never existed.”

“To Professor Thawne!”

They down their glasses. 

“You know, I never thought I’d long for the days when he was writing all of his tests about the Flash.” He hiccups. “I’d grade a mile high stack of Physics frosh-”

“Physics frosh!” She repeats 

“Physics frosh’s essays on - “

They say it together, in mocking voices. “‘possible candidates for the secret identity of 21st century superhero, the Flash’”

“- if it meant I could just get my damn degree.” He finishes.

“Hell,” She adds, “I’d take the times when he was commenting on my thesis progress reports with lightning bolt scribbles and - and -

“ - random formulas -”

“- for like - time travel -”

“- and the one time he wrote like, an anti-Flash screed on the back of my Methods section -”

“- because at least it meant that he - at some point - looked at your Methods section -”

“ - and when he was answering our emails with -”

“- rants about how he’s ‘almost got him’ and he ‘knows when - when! - he’s from’ -”

“- with like, at least half of the words misspelled -”

“- because at least it meant that he had seen our emails.”

They drink together for a moment.

“Remember - remember when he came into one of our meetings -”

“And he couldn’t remember our past three meetings -”

“Three meetings!”

“And he wouldn’t shut up about ‘getting to meetings in anachronic order’ -’”

“Anachronic order!”

“When we just - we just -” She can barely hold back the laughter. “We just needed to sign off on one purchase.”

“Ah, those were the good days.”

“God,” She pours out another glass of her drink. “You know, of all the things I was afraid of about grad school, I never thought I’d be nostalgic for - for the days when I knew that my professor at least existed, in physical form, in this universe.”

“They didn’t warn us about that on admitted students weekend.” He says. She laughs. 

“You haven’t found anyone else? Who - ” She asks. He shakes his head.

“No one in the department, none of the other professors. Apparently, none of our research for the past two years exists.”

“The -”

“School website doesn’t have him, either.”

“Alums?”

“No one’s written back.”

“Family?”

“Disappeared, apparently. No Thawne’s anywhere on the internet since 2015.”

“You’re shitting me.” 

“Nope.”

“So there’s no way he like - joined Witness Protection, or - or - “

He shakes his head. “I tried calling in a missing person’s report. He’s nowhere in the system.”

“Except right - fucking - here - “ She says, dragging out a stack of paper from her bag. “Right here, at the top of my earliest thesis draft - Professor Eobard Thawne - from three months ago.”

“Oh man,” He says, leaning over to look at the first page. “Back when he was actually leaving actual comments.”

“They’re good comments too.”

He sighs. “He was a good professor.”

“Yeah.” She says. “He’s why I came here, you know? How often do you get the chance to study with a Nobel Laureate in whole new field?”

“God, he was so cool on admitted students weekend.”

“Our whole first year, it was like I had to pinch myself. It’s just -”

“-crazy.” 

“And he couldn’t have lasted just one more goddamn semester.”

“Yeah.”

They drink in silence for a few minutes.

“Do you think - do you think he was the -”

“The ‘Reverse Flash’? Oh yeah. He starts writing angry screeds about the Flash and locking us out of parts of the lab, and then some guy starts running around punching the Flash every chance he gets? Look, I’ve seen enough movies to know that’s not a coincidence.”

“And then there was the time with the track team -”

“The track team - oh God. He misses our lunch meeting -”

“- and then - and then -”

“And then we find out he’d been interrogating the track team about their family histories. Like, that’s definitely supervillain territory.” She takes another swig of her drink. “Damn, I’d be happy with a supervillain for an advisor if I at least got a degree out of it.”

“Could write our own comic book.”

“Be less of a waste of paper than this is now,” She says, chucking her thesis across the room.

They sit in the settling silence as the pages fall to the floor.

“What do we do now?”

She laughs. “Well, we’ll have a hell of time transferring professors when no one seems to know who we were working with in the first place, or what we’ve been doing for the past two years. Hell, screw graduating, I’d just be happy if they’d stop accusing us of having somehow stolen all of our lab equipment. You’d think at least Gideon would be able to help us -”

“She’s not?”

She shakes her head. “Another thing the profs think we’ve stolen.”

He looks pale, and stares down into his glass before taking a drink. “Do you think he’s ever coming back?”

“God, I hope so. I paid enough money to be here the past two years.” She says, rubbing the edge of her glass. Finally, she raises it. “To Professor Eobard Thawne. Get home safe, so we can get our damn degrees.”

He nods, raises his glass to touch hers. “Get home safe”


End file.
